Photo: Jonathan Billinger · CC BY-SA 2.0Louth County Council is one of the most divided councils: the largest party has 7 of 29 seats
Louth County Council is the one council for Ardee; Ireland has no town or county councils between it and the government. The Ardee local electoral area elected 6 councillors in June 2024: Fine Gael 2, Independent 2, Fianna Fáil 1 and Sinn Féin 1. No party holds a majority on Louth County; Sinn Féin has the most seats, 7 of 29, short of the 15 a majority needs. In the Dáil, Louth has 5 members: Sinn Féin 2, Fianna Fáil 1, Labour Party 1 and Fine Gael 1.
Ardee’s council and votes, in 3 figures
No majority on Louth County
Sinn Féin won the most seats on Louth County Council in June 2024, 7 of 29, short of the 15 a majority needs; it ran 17 candidates. No party holds a majority on any of the 31 councils, so each council’s business is carried by votes across parties. Who’s in charge ↓
A crowded ballot
16 candidates stood for 6 seats in Ardee in June 2024, the 30th-most contested ballot of 166 by candidates per seat. Local elections ↓
High turnout
64,410 of Louth’s 104,799 registered voters turned out in November 2024, 61%: the 12th-highest of 43 Dáil constituencies (all of them: 60%). Dáil Éireann ↓
Written from the data on this page: the 2024 count sheets of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Oireachtas members list.
No party holds a majority on Louth County Council
Seats on Louth County Council as elected in June 2024, with each party’s candidates, and the other councils beside it.
- Sinn Féin717 stood
- Independent719 stood
- Fine Gael611 stood
- Fianna Fáil68 stood
- Labour Party25 stood
- Green Party15 stood
As elected on 7 June 2024.
A party needs 15 of the 29 seats to outvote the rest. None has that: Sinn Féin is largest with 7. None of the 31 councils has a single-party majority. Independent is second with 7 seats. The councillors elect a cathaoirleach each June to chair the council for a year; no open national list names them.
The 31 councils of Ireland
Seats by party as elected, largest party named; this council first.
Local and general election results 2024: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (CC BY-SA 4.0); areas matched to towns by TownRatings from Tailte Éireann boundaries and CSO Census 2022 Small Areas (CC BY 4.0).
One council, and the government for the rest
Ardee has no town or county council of its own: Ireland has 31 councils, each the only council for its area.
Housing and homelessness, planning, local and regional roads, parks and libraries, the fire service, bins enforcement and street cleaning, the register of electors, and the Local Property Tax rate it may vary.
louthcoco.ie ↗Schools (Department of Education), health (the HSE), national roads (TII), policing (An Garda Síochána) and the Local Property Tax itself (Revenue).
gov.ie ↗Uisce Éireann runs water and sewers; private operators collect most bins under the council’s rules.
Who to ask
Green: the council. Gold: a government department or one of its agencies. Grey: another public body.
From the council to the Dáil
Every elected tier that speaks for Ardee, from the most recent elections.
- 1The Ardee local electoral areaArdee · 6 membersPaula ButterlyJohn SheridanPearse McGeoughJim TenantyDolores MinogueBernie Conlon
- 2Louth County Council29 councillors from 5 local electoral areasSinn Féin 7 · Independent 7 · Fine Gael 6 · Fianna Fáil 6 · Labour Party 2 · Green Party 1
- 3Dáil ÉireannLouth · 5 members
Party colours are neutral on purpose: they tell parties apart and aren’t the parties’ own. TDs: Houses of the Oireachtas Open Data (Oireachtas PSI Licence, CC BY 4.0).
6 councillors represent Ardee
Each of the local electoral areas where 5% or more of the town’s residents live: who was elected, and who else stood.
- Paula Butterly
- John Sheridan
- Pearse McGeough
- Jim Tenanty
- Dolores Minogue
- Bernie Conlon
Also stood (10): Rachel Kerley (Fine Gael), Kitty Colbert (Sinn Féin), Fintan Malone (Independent), Niall McCreanor (Social Democrats), Kate Karpenko (Labour Party), Thomas Commins (Independent), Peter Farrell (Independent), Phyllis Murphy (Sinn Féin), Seán Brown (Independent), Adam Devine (Green Party).
Ardee’s councillors, one by one
| Councillor | Party | Area | First preferences | Result | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paula Butterly | Fine Gael | Ardee | 1,162 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | Re-elected |
| John Sheridan | Fianna Fáil | Ardee | 1,105 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | Re-elected |
| Pearse McGeough | Sinn Féin | Ardee | 1,067 | Elected at count 10, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Jim Tenanty | Independent | Ardee | 1,026 | Elected at count 9, on the quota | Re-elected |
| Dolores Minogue | Fine Gael | Ardee | 986 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | Re-elected |
| Bernie Conlon | Independent | Ardee | 810 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | Re-elected |
6 of the 6 were sitting councillors who were re-elected; 0 weren’t on the council before the election.
Seats by party in each of Louth County Council’s 5 local electoral areas
Every area of Louth County Council: seats, candidates and turnout
| Area | Seats | Candidates | Electorate | Turnout | Quota |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ardee | 6 | 16 | 19,928 | 49.9% | 1,390 |
| Drogheda Rural | 4 | 12 | 14,133 | 46.2% | 1,281 |
| Drogheda Urban | 6 | 20 | 19,729 | 47.4% | 1,307 |
| Dundalk South | 7 | 15 | 25,691 | 48% | 1,513 |
| Dundalk-Carlingford | 6 | 14 | 20,039 | 51.8% | 1,459 |
Each of the local electoral areas elects 3 to 7 councillors by single transferable vote: voters number the candidates in order, a candidate who reaches the quota is elected, and spare votes and those of the lowest candidate pass to the next preference. A councillor who leaves is replaced by co-option, usually from the same party, so the names can change without an election.
Councillors: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Of the 29 councillors on Louth County Council, women hold 13
Everyone elected to Louth County Council across its 5 local electoral areas in June 2024, by party: how many are women and how many sat on the council before.
| Party | Seats | Women | Re-elected | First preferences |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | 7 | 2 | 6 | 22% |
| Sinn Féin | 7 | 3 | 4 | 23.6% |
| Fianna Fáil | 6 | 2 | 5 | 17% |
| Fine Gael | 6 | 4 | 3 | 18.2% |
| Labour Party | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7.7% |
| Green Party | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.3% |
13 of the 29 councillors are women, 45%; across all 31 councils the share is 26%. 21 sat on the council before the election and 8 are new to it.
Every member of Louth County Council
| Councillor | Party | Area | Returning or new |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paula Butterly | Fine Gael | Ardee | Re-elected |
| John Sheridan | Fianna Fáil | Ardee | Re-elected |
| Pearse McGeough | Sinn Féin | Ardee | Re-elected |
| Jim Tenanty | Independent | Ardee | Re-elected |
| Dolores Minogue | Fine Gael | Ardee | Re-elected |
| Bernie Conlon | Independent | Ardee | Re-elected |
| Michelle Hall | Labour Party | Drogheda Rural | Re-elected |
| Anne-Marie Ford | Fine Gael | Drogheda Rural | New |
| Declan Power | Independent | Drogheda Rural | Re-elected |
| Eric Donovan | Sinn Féin | Drogheda Rural | New |
| Pio Smith | Labour Party | Drogheda Urban | Re-elected |
| Kevin Callan | Independent | Drogheda Urban | Re-elected |
| Joanna Byrne | Sinn Féin | Drogheda Urban | Re-elected |
| James Byrne | Fianna Fáil | Drogheda Urban | Re-elected |
| Paddy McQuillan | Independent | Drogheda Urban | Re-elected |
| Ejiro O'Hare Stratton | Fine Gael | Drogheda Urban | New |
| Maeve Yore | Independent | Dundalk South | Re-elected |
| Robert Nash | Fine Gael | Dundalk South | Re-elected |
| Emma Coffey | Fianna Fáil | Dundalk South | Re-elected |
| Shane McGuinness | Fianna Fáil | Dundalk South | New |
| Kevin Meenan | Sinn Féin | Dundalk South | Re-elected |
| Marianne Butler | Green Party | Dundalk South | Re-elected |
| Sionainn McCann | Sinn Féin | Dundalk South | New |
| Seán Kelly | Fianna Fáil | Dundalk-Carlingford | Re-elected |
| Antóin Watters | Sinn Féin | Dundalk-Carlingford | Re-elected |
| John Reilly | Fine Gael | Dundalk-Carlingford | New |
| Andrea McKevitt | Fianna Fáil | Dundalk-Carlingford | Re-elected |
| Ciarán Fisher | Independent | Dundalk-Carlingford | New |
| Fiona Mhic Conchoille | Sinn Féin | Dundalk-Carlingford | New |
The council: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
First preferences in Ardee, June 2024
Each candidate’s first-preference votes; the tick is the quota of 1,390. Elected candidates are in bold.
First-preference share by party in Ardee
The tick is the party’s share across all of Ireland.
9,951 of 19,928 registered voters turned out, 49.9%: the 88th-highest of 166 local electoral areas (all of them: 49.4%). The quota was 1,390: 9,724 valid votes for 6 seats, counted over 12 rounds. Nobody reached the quota on first preferences, so every seat was filled on transfers. Bernie Conlon (Independent) was 7th on first preferences and elected on transfers, ahead of Rachel Kerley (Fine Gael), 6th on first preferences. The last seat went to Bernie Conlon (Independent) with 1,238 votes at the final count, 59 ahead of Rachel Kerley (Fine Gael), who had 1,179.
Every candidate, count by count (12 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Sheridan | Fianna Fáil | 1,105 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 1,310 |
| Dolores Minogue | Fine Gael | 986 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 1,280 |
| Paula Butterly | Fine Gael | 1,162 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 1,274 |
| Bernie Conlon | Independent | 810 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 1,238 |
| Pearse McGeough | Sinn Féin | 1,067 | Elected at count 10, on the quota | 1,390 |
| Jim Tenanty | Independent | 1,026 | Elected at count 9, on the quota | 1,390 |
| Adam Devine | Green Party | 93 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Seán Brown | Independent | 156 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Phyllis Murphy | Sinn Féin | 164 | Excluded at count 4 | – |
| Peter Farrell | Independent | 223 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Kate Karpenko | Labour Party | 276 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| Thomas Commins | Independent | 265 | Excluded at count 7 | – |
| Niall McCreanor | Social Democrats | 310 | Excluded at count 8 | – |
| Fintan Malone | Independent | 535 | Excluded at count 9 | – |
| Kitty Colbert | Sinn Féin | 568 | Excluded at count 10 | – |
| Rachel Kerley | Fine Gael | 978 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 1,179 |
How Ardee voted: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Who stood, and who was elected, June 2024
Every candidate for Louth County Council, by party: the light bar is candidates, the solid bar those elected.
Share of candidates elected, all of Ireland
Parties with 10 or more candidates across the 31 councils.
77 candidates stood for 29 seats on Louth County Council in June 2024, 2.7 for each seat. Turnout across the council was 48.8%, the 22nd-highest of 31 councils. Independent elected 7 of its 19 candidates. 30 of the 77 candidates were women (39%; 31% across the country), and 19 stood without a party. Across all 31 councils, 2,172 candidates stood for 949 seats, 2.3 for each.
Turnout in all 31 councils
Local elections: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Ardee is in Louth
5 TDs elected to the Dáil by single transferable vote on 29 November 2024, the whole constituency’s count.
Fianna Fáil
oireachtas.ie ↗Labour Party
oireachtas.ie ↗Sinn Féin
oireachtas.ie ↗Fine Gael
oireachtas.ie ↗Sinn Féin
oireachtas.ie ↗TDs as the Oireachtas lists them today, with any office they hold; a by-election or a change of party shows here, the 2024 count below does not change.
First preferences in Louth, November 2024
First-preference share by party in Louth
64,410 of 104,799 registered voters turned out, 61.5%: the 12th-highest of 43 Dáil constituencies (all of them: 59.7%). With 63,735 valid votes and 5 seats the quota was 10,623; the count ran to 20 rounds. No candidate reached the quota on first preferences: transfers filled every seat. Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fáil) took the last seat with 8,629 votes at the final count, 2,217 more than Alison Comyn (Fianna Fáil), on 6,412.
Every candidate, count by count (20 counts)
| Candidate | Party | First preferences | Result | Votes at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paula Butterly | Fine Gael | 5,646 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 9,062 |
| Erin McGreehan | Fianna Fáil | 5,772 | Elected at the last count, below the quota | 8,629 |
| Ged Nash | Labour Party | 7,594 | Elected at count 20, on the quota | 12,533 |
| Joanna Byrne | Sinn Féin | 8,169 | Elected at count 17, on the quota | 10,623 |
| Ruairí Ó Murchú | Sinn Féin | 8,728 | Elected at count 16, on the quota | 10,623 |
| David Carroll | Independent | 40 | Excluded at count 2 | – |
| Albert David Byrne | Independent | 99 | Excluded at count 3 | – |
| Alan Fagan | Independent | 114 | Excluded at count 4 | – |
| Derek McElearney | The Irish People | 119 | Excluded at count 5 | – |
| Peter-James Nugent | Independent | 149 | Excluded at count 6 | – |
| David Bradley | Independent | 157 | Excluded at count 7 | – |
| Tracy Marie O'Hanlon | Independent | 234 | Excluded at count 8 | – |
| Ryan McKeown | Independent Ireland | 305 | Excluded at count 9 | – |
| David Brennan | Independent | 671 | Excluded at count 10 | – |
| Thomas Clare | Independent | 416 | Excluded at count 10 | – |
| Marianne Butler | Green Party | 1,504 | Excluded at count 11 | – |
| Niall McCreanor | Social Democrats | 1,547 | Excluded at count 12 | – |
| James Renaghan | People Before Profit–Solidarity | 1,671 | Excluded at count 13 | – |
| Michael O'Dowd | Aontú | 2,330 | Excluded at count 14 | – |
| Hermann Kelly | Irish Freedom Party | 2,546 | Excluded at count 15 | – |
| Antóin Watters | Sinn Féin | 3,767 | Excluded at count 16 | – |
| John McGahon | Fine Gael | 4,021 | Excluded at count 19 | – |
| Kevin Callan | Independent | 3,223 | Excluded at count 20 | – |
| Alison Comyn | Fianna Fáil | 4,913 | Not elected, standing at the last count | 6,412 |
Dáil Éireann: same source as Who’s in charge, above.
Louth County Council plans to spend €1,453 per resident in 2026
What its 2026 revenue budget pays for, service by service, and where the money comes from.
By service, per resident, 2026
What pays for it, 2026
Shares of what funds the 2026 budget; the tick is all 31 councils together.
Leaving out the HAP programme, that is the 13th-highest of the 31 councils per resident; across all of them it is €1,551. The budget is up 11% on 2025, when it was €184M.
Commercial rates on businesses pay for 19% of the budget. Its annual rate on valuation is 0.2235, the 13th-highest of the 31 councils that rate on revalued property. The Local Property Tax brings in another 6%.
Budget per resident, all 31 councils (without the HAP programme)
Show the services as a table, 2025 and 2026
| Service | 2026 | Per resident | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Housing and building | €91M | €652 | €73.7M | 24% |
| Roads and transport | €29.7M | €213 | €28.6M | 4% |
| Water services | €6.3M | €45 | €7.5M | -17% |
| Planning and development | €25.3M | €181 | €25.9M | -3% |
| Environment and fire | €26.7M | €191 | €24.9M | 7% |
| Libraries, parks and amenities | €13.5M | €97 | €12.5M | 8% |
| Agriculture, education, health and welfare | €1.3M | €10 | €1.4M | -6% |
| Other services | €9.8M | €70 | €9.3M | 5% |
Budgets: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Local Authority Annual Budgets 2025 and 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), revenue account before inter-authority contributions are netted; residents: CSO Census 2022 (CC BY 4.0).
Each of Louth County Council’s 29 councillors speaks for about 4,820 residents
Residents per councillor on each of the 31 councils.
Louth County Council has 29 councillors for 139,703 residents: about 4,820 each, the 14th-highest of 31 councils. The range runs from 9,410 residents per councillor on Dublin City to 1,960 on Leitrim County.
Residents per councillor, all 31 councils
Seats: local elections 2024 (Department of Housing, CC BY-SA 4.0); residents: CSO Census 2022 (CC BY 4.0).
Having a say in how Ardee is run
Check, register or update your address online; the register closes 15 days before a poll (Sundays and holidays aside).
checktheregister.ie ↗Potholes, broken lights, dumping and graffiti, sent to the council.
FixYourStreet.ie ↗Council and municipal district meetings are open to the public, with agendas and minutes online.
louthcoco.ie ↗Anyone may make a submission within five weeks of an application, for a fee of €20.
louthcoco.ie ↗Each TD’s contact details are on the Oireachtas members page.
oireachtas.ie ↗The Electoral Commission’s guidance for candidates and how to be nominated.
electoralcommission.ie ↗What this data can and can’t tell you
- Single transferable vote. Voters number candidates in order. The quota is the valid votes divided by one more than the seats, plus one. A candidate over the quota is elected and their surplus passes on; when nobody is over it, the lowest is excluded and their votes pass on, until the seats are filled. The last seats can go to candidates below the quota once too few are left to fill them. First preferences show where support started, not who won.
- Which area. A town is placed in its council, local electoral area and Dáil constituency by where its residents live (Census 2022 Small Areas); an area holding 5% or more of them is listed too. Areas reach beyond the town, so their results are the whole area’s.
- Turnout. Votes cast, spoilt ones included, as a share of the register. Registers carry people who have moved or died, so every turnout reads low by a few points; compare areas, not the figure on its own.
- A close last seat. Shown only when the last candidate elected and the one left standing were both in the final count; the gap is between their votes then. Margins are not shown as headlines unless they are among the closest.
- Not on this page. Audited accounts and debt are published only as PDF statements, so they aren’t on this page. Votes before 2024 aren’t compared: the local electoral areas were redrawn for the 2024 local elections and the Dáil constituencies in 2023, so earlier results don’t cover the same ground. Who chairs each council and who runs it as chief executive aren’t in any open national list; each council names them on its website.
Questions about how Ardee is run
Which council runs Ardee?
The one council for Ardee is Louth County Council: Ireland has a single tier of local government.
How many councillors does Ardee have?
The Ardee local electoral area elects 6 councillors: Paula Butterly (Fine Gael), John Sheridan (Fianna Fáil), Pearse McGeough (Sinn Féin), Jim Tenanty (Independent), Dolores Minogue (Fine Gael), Bernie Conlon (Independent).
Which party has the most seats on Louth County Council?
No party has a majority. As elected, Sinn Féin 7 · Independent 7 · Fine Gael 6 · Fianna Fáil 6 · Labour Party 2 · Green Party 1 of 29 seats; a majority needs 15.
Who are Ardee’s TDs?
Louth elects 5 TDs: Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fáil), Ged Nash (Labour Party), Joanna Byrne (Sinn Féin), Paula Butterly (Fine Gael) and Ruairí Ó Murchú (Sinn Féin).
What was the turnout in Ardee?
In Ardee, 49.9% of registered voters turned out in June 2024 (Ireland: 49.4%). In Louth, 61.5% in November 2024 (59.7%).
When are the next elections in Ardee?
Local elections are held every five years, so the next are due in 2029, in May or June. A general election must be held within five years of the last one (November 2024), sooner if the Dáil is dissolved.
What does Louth County spend?
Louth County Council plans to spend €203.7M on day-to-day services in 2026, the most of it on housing and building.
Sources: Local and general election results 2024: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (CC BY-SA 4.0); areas matched to towns by TownRatings from Tailte Éireann boundaries and CSO Census 2022 Small Areas (CC BY 4.0). · TDs: Houses of the Oireachtas Open Data (Oireachtas PSI Licence, CC BY 4.0). · Boundaries: Tailte Éireann (CC BY 4.0); population: CSO Census 2022 (CC BY 4.0).. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).